Cap. 16 Art. 1712CContract of insuranceinfavour of third party beneficiaries.

(1) The policyholder may elect that the proceeds or any benefit arising from a contract of life insurance, whether payable on a definite maturity date or on the death of the life insured, including any surrender value, be payable to one or more named beneficiaries:

Provided that in case of a spouse or children of the policyholder the designation of such persons by reference to the class of persons shall be sufficient and in such case, unless otherwise stated in the policy, they shall enjoy rights to the proceeds in equal shares and shall benefit from such designation even if they do not accept the inheritance: Provided further that it shall also be lawful to designate a class of beneficiaries in case of insurance contracts in favour of persons who participate in a group policy as is referred to in article 1712B(6).

(2) (a) The designation of a beneficiary or a class of beneficiaries shall be made either in the original contract of life insurance or policy or in any subsequent amendment of the policy and such designation may refer to the full proceeds or part thereof, and may be subject to conditions, suspensive or resolutive.

(b) When the purpose of the designation expressly to be for the provision of maintenance of the beneficiary or as a pension, the said designation may be subject to restriction on alienation or any other legal transaction, subject to diminution or termination in the event that the beneficiary becomes bankrupt or insolvent or any of his property becoming liable to seizure for the benefit of his creditors and shall not be liable to attachment under a garnishee order issued against the insurer: Provided that the said immunity from garnishee shall only apply to sums reasonably required for maintenance of the beneficiary or for a pension being not more than twice the highest State pension in Malta.

(3) Subject to the provisions of article 1712D(4), the policyholder may revoke or vary the terms of any designation of a beneficiary.

(4) The revocation or modification by a policyholder of a designation of a beneficiary may not be made by means of a will.

The heirs of the policyholder may not revoke the designation of a beneficiary after the death of the policyholder.